Day: July 31, 2013

Scott Simon of NPR documents his mother’s death on Twitter. Brooke talks to psychologist Erik Fisher about social media and emotions.

George Zimmerman — who was acquitted earlier this month on murder charges tied to Trayvon Martin’s death — was stopped this weekend for a traffic violation in North Texas, according to a report from the Forney, Texas, police department.

The incident happened shortly after noon Sunday, when an officer pulled over Zimmerman’s 2008 gray Honda for what was described only as a traffic stop.

He was given a verbal warning, police said.

On Friday, Congress will begin a five-week vacation. The bad news is after five weeks they will return to Washington. A hundred years ago, Congressional sessions began in December and ended in March; now they stretch over the entire year and accomplish much less. Oh, for the good old days.

Related articles

• “A Structural Feature Of Republican Politics”: GOP Obstruction As The New Normal In Washington (mykeystrokes.com)

Brooke Baldwin talks with CNN contributors Bob Baer and Ben Ferguson about Edward Snowden’s claim of stealth data mining and a claim that the NSA has a technology called “XKeyscore”, giving the agency ease of surveillance.

Many dads dreamed of becoming astronauts, firefighters or rockstars when they grew up, but sadly, many of those dreams got pushed aside. Although this was also the case for Frenchman Laurent Aigon, he decided to fulfill his fantasy of becoming a pilot, fittingly, in his children’s bedroom.

According to Sud Ouest, Laurent Aigon is a 40-year-old dad who spent the past five years assembling a realistic simulation of a Boeing 737 cockpit in a narrow space between the closet and bunk bed in his kids’ room. After thousands of hours and with the help of his friend Paul Dupuy, Aigon crafted one of the world’s most realistic renditions of a commercial jet’s cockpit. The simulator, which features five computer screens and was assembled with parts from around the world, can recreate flights to destinations as far as Sydney, Australia and Rio de Janeiro.

Now a waiter in a restaurant…

This week has brought notice of the death of two political figures from the past:  Lindy Boggs and Harry Byrd, Jr.  Both in their late 90s and had been out of office and out of the news for a number of years.  But it is notable that although of similar age and from the south, they were opposites when it came to civil rights.

Lindy Boggs was the window of House Speaker Hale Boggs who died in a plane crash in Alaska.  I remember when this happened in 1972,  I was moving out of my student movement phase and beginning to take an interest in electoral politics. Boggs ran to replace him following a tradition of widows taking over for their politician husbands.   Boggs, however, was different.  She went on to serve nine terms in Congress (several of them representing a majority black district) and become a champion of women’s rights and…

Hawaii will become the latest place in the U.S. to offer one-way plane tickets to homeless people, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat. Last week, legislators voted to allocate $100,000 to fund a pilot “return to home” program run by the state’s Department of Human Services that will set aside seats on airplanes — and possibly cruise ships — for homeless people seeking a way to return to loved ones in other states.

To qualify for the trial, participants must complete a background check, be mentally sound, and have what the bill calls “sufficient personal hygiene.” The program is voluntary, and homeless individuals can only enroll in it once.

(MORE: A Homeless Man and His BlackBerry)

Supporters say sending homeless people back to their friends and relatives will enable them to get back on their feet in a more supportive environment. It’s also an effort to reduce the…

U.N. inspectors will travel to Syria “as soon as possible” to investigate three reports of chemical weapons use, a U.N. spokesperson said Wednesday.

The announcement of the upcoming visit followed talks last week between Syria’s government and a U.N. representative for disarmament affairs, according to the U.N. statement.

Syria has been embroiled in a bloody civil war for more than two years, during which more than 100,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced or become refugees in other countries, according to the United Nations.

Amid the fighting, there have been numerous allegations that chemical weapons have been used.